Montano's Malady as a reader's guide, part 1

In picking Montano's Malady back up, i've found it more necessary than usual to have an open notebook at hand while i'm reading. I'm too ignorant to catch most of the references, and have to look them up online when i take breaks.

One of the unfamiliar authors mentioned is Alan Pauls, who wrote something called The Borges Factor. I suspected the author and the work were fictional, but they are not. It turns out that he's an Argentine writer and has had his fourth novel translated to English this year, The Past. I've read three reviews so far, one in the Independent, one in the Guardian, and one in the Sunday Herald. Although the essay on Sick Art woven into the narrative seems intriguing, the actual plot of the novel doesn't attract me.

How I Became a Nun

Conversational Reading has a post pointing to some Roberto Bolano and Cesar Aira links.

César Aira's How I Became a Nun is the one of the books that Bill loaned to me last month. The Boston Review describe it better than i can, but i still must add, it's a very peculiar book. With each chapter, the story twists in way that seems that Aira is deliberately trying to write himself into a corner, and proceeds to escape it. As well as the narrator being unreliable, her voice changes slightly in each chapter, and it felt as if the reader was being led into a trap. As experimental and arch as it might seem, it's a breezy, playful read, extremely accessible. It's a shame only two of his books are in English translation right now.

(Wait, there are three in translation? What's the third?)